We All Fall Down
by Talianca
Summary: This is something I came up with after knowing the existence of the book The Gashlycrumb Tinies and the song A Gorey Demise, by Creature Feature. Be welcome to see my butchery. Pretty random, and I took a lot of liberties here. Warnings: very possible gore (or perhaps no), blood, guts, bleh (I'm really bad at writting gore sob sob), and angst. Spoiler: everybody dies at the end.
1. A is for Alfred

**... who fell down the stairs.**

Their father told them hundreds of times not to run upstairs. Rather, he told them hundreds of times not to run anywhere in the house, but he put extreme emphasis on not running upstairs. Of course, the prohibition sounded more like a challenge to one of the twins, and on several occasions Arthur had had to reprimand them for their disobedience, and under the constant threat of punishment, he had managed to calm the euphoria of the boys.

To Alfred, upstairs was the best place in the house to play tag. His favorite part of the game was being the one chased, he loved the adrenaline of the chase. But something was true; Matthew was too fast. Getting away from his brother was always an achievement, and therefore having to run after him frustrated him enormously, because he never managed to catch him. But with his speed disadvantage, he had designed his own means of escape. The only disadvantage was that it only worked on the top floor. This consisted of sliding downstairs over the railing upon reaching the stairs.

Matthew never dared to imitate his actions, therefore, it was always victory for him. His method was _infallible_.

Tiptoeing to the room he shared with Mattie, Alfred peeked through the door to see inside. His identical brother was facing away from him, probably playing with one of their many toys. A wide smile planted on his face, and making sure to make as little noise as possible, he approached where Mattie was, reaching out his hand towards his back to give him a little push, that startled the other blonde.

"You're it!" He shrieked amid an excited giggle that escaped his chest, hurrying to turn around and run out of the room. He immediately heard the footsteps of his brother behind him, and taking a second to glance at the other boy, he managed to catch the predator sparkle that shone in the violet eyes of little Matt, as he began to reduce the distance between them, despite the obvious advantage that Alfred had.

The boy didn't flinch, and making sure not to slow down even for a second, he visualized the place where the stairs began, and completely ignoring the scolding that came downstairs, once Arthur heard the footsteps upstairs, he reached out his hand to touch the wall slightly and stop a bit before reaching the stairs.

"I have told you a million times not to run upstairs! Alfred!"

He threw his hand towards the railing, but before he could get hold of it to stop completely, his feet stumbled over the carpet and Alfred fell headfirst toward the first step with the speed of a train. He heard Matthew's scream of horror from above and a frightening crack sounded from somewhere below his head as his body collided with what would have been the third step. By the time he reached the bottom step, his neck had already known at least three different angles.

Matthew watched in horror as his twin brother's body lay motionless at the foot of the stairs, and a small pool of red began to form under his head, having already left a trail of blood that ran along most of the carpeted steps. The alarmed voice of his parents came from one of the rooms below and both of them came running to find the scene.

 _"Alfred!"_ The scream of absolute horror filled the house, and the child stared completely paralyzed by terror at the big blue eyes that looked at somewhere over him from his brother's twisted face.


	2. B is for Berwald

**... assaulted by bears.**

 _'The_ _forest is a treacherous place'_ , that was something that Berwald knew by heart, and with his mother's voice having repeated it to the point of exhaustion, he'd have expected to never be in a situation where he had to prove this claim. But finding himself now completely alone, hungry and exhausted in the middle of the forest was nothing but his own fault. If he hadn't started arguing with his older brother over a stupid thing, maybe now he wouldn't have to roam that huge forest all alone. He wanted to kick himself for having ignored his mother's knowing voice, and let himself be guided solely by his urge to avoid Mathias.

 _'Always obey your older brother, he knows how to face the forest'_. His own selfishness had put him here, Berwald knew he shouldn't have listened to Mathias' stupid comments, let alone get away from him by getting into the forest. Now if there was one thing he was certain about, it was that he was far, very far from his brother. Otherwise, I'd hear his screams, because he was probably calling him somewhere. Mathias' voice was something certainly hard to ignore.

Berwald looked up from the ground when he heard something moving in the distance and stopped short to listen carefully. He appreciated the fact that this season wasn't cold, but that also meant the animals were out there, looking for something to eat after a long winter. The boy concentrated on hearing, and managed to determine that something was effectively out there. Tugging at the edges of his shirt, he inspected the place for whatever was causing that noise. He just hoped it was some peaceful being, like a moose or hopefully, a person.

Feeling his concern diminish a little when he perceived the sound slowly moving away, he focused on continuing with his recognition of the place, making a mental note to be more discreet from now on. He walked for what seemed like hours, without managing to get anywhere and exhausted, Berwald decided to sit against a tree to rest.

He closed his eyes and thought of his family, remembering the petulant smile on his older brother's face and he remembered how he had run into the forest to escape from Mathias' annoying voice. He remembered hearing him yell his name while trying to run without managing to reach him, and he remembered having ignored him to run faster. He was startled from his rest when he heard the sound of footsteps, and opening his eyes he realized he had fallen asleep, although it wasn't dark yet, so he deduced that he hadn't been sleeping for such a long time.

"I have to get out of here fast." He muttered to himself, standing up and shaking the dirt off his clothes, forgetting for a second the steps he had heard.

... Until he saw the bear.

The boy was paralyzed when he visualized (with great difficulty) a large brown bear, walking among the trees towards him. He straightened, breathed out and ignored the instinct to run. He knew that would make things worse.

He stiffened when he learned that the animal was coming directly at him, and closed his eyes tightly the moment it reached him. He could sense how the animal began to sniff him and gave a small sigh of relief when he felt the bear move away from him. But all his hopes disappeared when a strong blow to the chest made him fall to the ground and then a great pain invaded that area.

Berwald opened his eyes and completely terrified saw that the animal was above him, preparing to give him another blow. A cry of pain came from his mouth when the claw went back over his chest and through his clothes, reaching up to the skin.

"No!" He cried as he felt the animal's paws press against his chest and the claws tearing at his flesh as it struck one blow after another to kill him and choked on his own spit, while the smell of blood and damp earth filled his nose, but he could hardly notice that. ain made him brush unconsciousness as the sharp claws pierced his face and the taste of warm blood flooded his mouth as the color and light started fading out. "... Mathias."

* * *

Mathias went through that forest for what would be the hundredth time, going a little deeper in the hope of finally finding his brother. Berwald had been missing for two days already, and his mother had asked all the people who lived nearby to help her find her son, after she realized that two people wouldn't be enough to explore the forest. Mathias only hoped that he had been capable enough to use the teachings that several times he had tried to share with him. But little Berwald was so stubborn. Just like his big brother.

He swung the ax from one hand to the other and rested it on his shoulder as he raised his gaze to the trees, wondering if Berwald had remembered that he should climb a tree to avoid-

Thump!

... Bears.

He looked down at the ground beneath him and saw that he had stumbled on something on the ground. Something half buried under the damp earth... that looked a lot like Berwald's coat.

"Oh my God, no..." he exclaimed quietly, dropping the weapon to his side and kneeling over the ground to unearth the garment. He got the shocking surprise of seeing that the clothes were indeed still in Berwald's body. Or, what was left of him.

Feeling that he was about to throw up, Mathias brought his dirt covered hands to his mouth to stifle a gasp as he contemplated what surely was the attack of a hungry bear. He sobbed in horror at the scene of the pale face of his little brother, violently disfigured, covered with dirt and blood and he screwed his eyes shut, refusing to see the work the animal had done on his baby brother's body to reach the best parts to eat.

His mother always told him that the forest was a treacherous place.


	3. C is for-

_**Sorry, not a chapter!**_

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Eh... hehe, hi

It's been a while since I updated this story, but I can't find characters with names corresponding to some of the letters (yep, it's totally that, not that I'm a lazy-ass that doesn't write, haha...)

So... (I'll post this message in the chapters I need) _Could you help me to find a character for this chapter, please? Thankss_

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If you wanna read the next written chapter, jump to the letter E


	4. D is for-

_Could you help me to find a character for this chapter, please? Thankss_


	5. E is for Emil

**... who was buried alive.**

He wasn't sure of what exactly had awakened him, and when he partially regained consciousness, he couldn't be sure if awakening had been a good idea.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he found himself in absolute darkness. That wouldn't have seemed weird, if it wasn't for the fact that in less than a second he realized that he could not move at all. He tried to feel the place with his hands, but he couldn't stretch his arms in any direction, he could only leave them spread out on the sides of his body. Then he tried to bend his legs, finding that he couldn't even lift them.

"Where am I?" He exclaimed loudly, feeling his words stir as he breathed with the terror of being trapped, and not knowing where. He scanned the darkness with his eyes, trying to remember why he was there; but his memory was blank, he could not even remember his own name.

He moved all he could, finding that no matter on what direction he moved, he would always hit a wall. He rested both hands against his pants, and managed to feel in his pocket a small object inside. With difficulty he got it out of his pocket and squeezed it between three fingers of his right hand, reviewing it once and again to try to define what it was. Despite being warm because of the indirect contact with his leg, he could notice that it was a cold material, like metal and it had a strange shape that he couldn't identify.

He inhaled deeply as he felt suffocated and, doing his best to accommodate his battered body on his hard bed, his mind flashed with vague memories of an uncomfortable bed and afflicted sobs, of being partially conscious, enough to hear voices far away but unable to answer them. He recalled medicine with terrible taste and vomit, and then more medicine. He remembered not being able to breathe because of the coughing fits and convulsions, burning fever, hallucinations and tears of pure pain.

 _"I love you little brother."_ He rested both hands against the top of his prison, beginning to despair with the rapid descent of oxygen, crossing the hard and slightly uneven surface, pricking his fingers as he dragged them along the roof.

 _"Everything will get better soon."_ He closed his hand on the small object, feeling one of its ends dig into his palm. Wood. Everything around him was wood. A coffin.

 _"I am here with you."_ He gasped in agitation, his eyes wandering rapidly from one side to the other in the absolute darkness, trying to find something to fix on. The last memory in his mind was the image of the afflicted faces of his brothers over him, repeating words of consolation that he could not hear.

 _"Emil."_

"Lukas!" He sobbed desperately in increasingly loud gasps, kicking against the wood and beating it with his knees and scratching insistently with his hands. Arching and trying to scream before the suffocating heat, although knowing that any attempt to do something would be useless. "Ma-Mathias! Lukas!"

The cross clasp opened a small wound in his palm, and he clung to it as if it was his brother as he felt his chest begin to rise and fall violently with spasms and gasps desperate for air, while his eyes went blank and unconsciousness began to break through his senses.

After several minutes of a raging attack, Emil fell heavily against his wooden bed, his eyes half closed and the purple of his irises hidden behind his eyelids, his mouth wide open in a futile attempt to bring air to his lungs and the gift of his brother imprisoned between his closed fingers.


End file.
